She's 2!!!!!

I cannot believe that Anika is 2 years old. Where did the time go? Each individual day felt so long, but looking back at the last 2 years (and 9 months before birth) I can't fathom where the time went. Wasn't it yesterday that the midwife placed her in my arms for the first time? Weren't we waking up every few hours to eat just moments ago? Can it be she took her first steps an entire year ago?

2 years ago, I could not have imagined that I would love this little person so much.

So what is she up to now? Well, as life is giving her more choices these days (do you want lima beans or peas for dinner?) she is having trouble making up her mind. We find ourselves baffled by the toddler who requests peas only to have them arrive on her plate and scream "no peas!! no want peas". Its hard to make choices!

A few weeks ago we were in Colorado at the Great Sand Dunes and Anika and I were making sandcastles. Everytime I made a tower with our tupperware bucket, Anika would smash it with her feet and giggle. For a little while I was tricky and put the towers far away from each other so she could smash one while I built a fortress on the other side of my body. But once she saw them, those towers were done for.

In that moment, I had an epiphany. Motherhood is exactly like building sandcastles with an almost two year old. If you think that the goal is to build a beautiful castle, you will spend your life with your child frustrated and angry. If, on the other hand, you recognize that sandcastles are temporary and you find joy in the building and smashing, you will have found a way to be happy your whole life long. The fun is in the journey.

Anika is big into making words plural right now. "That's my's" is her favorite expression meaning "that's mine". She can now identify correctly an "A for Anika", "B for Bridget", "C for Callie", and "D for Daddy" when she sees the capital letters, and she finds them everywhere.

We are now attempting to night time potty train, since daytime potty training is pretty much done. We are having mixed success. Thankfully, we registered for "the ultimate crib sheet" which is intended to be a waterproof sheet you can take off when your newborn's diaper leaks. Since Anika never had leaky diapers as a newborn we thought the sheet was pretty much useless - but it is so handy in the middle of the night to be able to just unsnap the top sheet and have a fresh dry one already on the bed.

Ani and I are enjoying having Michael home with us for a few more weeks before school starts up again. She loves having Daddy home. A few days ago, she was snoozing in my lap and woke up crying "me go too daddy. I go outside". She was very upset and clearly dreaming about Daddy leaving to go outside without her. I think having him back after missing him for 3 weeks has taken its toll. She really blossomed again when he came home.

I can't wait to see what this next year brings. Pictures soon.